Luck
by xxSilverStaRxx
Summary: AU "Out we go. And," she stared both of them in the eye, "For the last time, my name is Mikan Sakura. You should remember that at least."


"LUCK"

"You're in luck, m'lassie," the haggler smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellowing, rotting teeth. Any closer and she would have been able to confirm her suspicions regarding his foul breath as well. "They're a fresh batch, I've just bought 'em last night. It'll be m'pleasure to show yous around."

The boat swayed slightly as another wave scratched at the sandy coast, and gently tapped the dock. The planks of the age old boat creaked under their steps, echoing their footsteps until they reached the mouldy plank door that led to the heart of the boat: the storage rooms.

"S'cuse me for the mess, you see I usually dress 'em up real nice and bring them out to the market. You can quite imagine by surprise at getting a call from th'Sakuras saying that they wanted my services." The keys on the man's waist jingled slightly as his boots pounded on the wooden stairs that threatened to break in half.

"I've heard your services were the best in the area," despite the outward appearances.

"Why, I'm jolly honoured to hear it. Y'know, m'packages have never been spotted outside the market, top secret. And these are a fresh new batch, right fresh. No un's look at 'em. No un's touched a single one of 'em. Not even me, God forbid I do anything. Gotta keep the goods fresh or no ones be looking at 'em a second glance in this business. See, that's th'problem with the newbies in the business, gettin' all greedy and all. No un's gonna want second hand things, they all want Jolly's brand name ones." His crackling laughter filled the air as he laughed at his own jokes; the sound was testing her nerves.

Surprisingly, the heart of the boat was pristine clean, the odour on the deck disappeared and a few crew men were still wiping the walls down.

"Yea, these puppies have ta be kept in top condition. There's the most upgraded area in the whole boat, cost me a small fortune but worth it."

As he spoke, the three were led into an area with chains on the walls, cuffing several hands to the wall – hands of all shades of colour, and all shapes and sizes.

"Granddaughter, picking a servant from this bunch will take a while, perhaps Jolly might point out a few that caught his eye before. He has experience after all."

"Yes, that will be most helpful."

Huffing with superiority, the man stomped past ten or so chained hands before stopping in front of a slim blond boy with blue eyes and placed his hands on the boy's face as to force him to look up at her.

His iris was a delicate shade of blue.

"Well, this one sure took my attention when I met him." The muscles of the boy's neck slightly bulged in a futile attempt to defy the hand of authority. "You're lucky to be on this special, private tour with me, or else this one will have quite a high bid at the auction amongst all the whorehouses. A rare one, haven't set my eyes on someone of his looks in years."

"Take your filthy hands off of Ruka, you bastard." The sound came from the boy beside him, one who instantly caught her eye. High, sharp cheekbones and red eyes that seemed to emit menace, she licked her lips slightly. He was the perfect one for the job. As for the blond…

She pondered. She's seen many "packages" before, and at one glance, it told her what type of slave they would become. Rebellious ones, broken ones, timid ones, trashy ones, she's seen them all. Like the boy who's quivering on the other side of the blond, one with glasses and a less radiant type of hair colour – ones like those will never survive in the Red Light district, the only way he'll survive is if a professional looking for an apprentice happens to walk by him.

Jolly's eye twitched, as if he fought off the urge to punish the boy who spoke out. He let go of "Ruka" and his cracked lips tilted up as if to smile. "Don't mind him, I'll-"

"I want that one," she said pointing to Red-Eyes. "And, Jii-chan, other than finding the one for that special job, didn't Koko say that he wanted an apprentice for the gardens? There was an awful lot of wildlife around, too much for him to handle."

The old man smiled and remarked, "Ah yes, and his birthday is coming up, what present will you be getting him?"

"Well, this one's perfect for the job, you know the island from where he was taken has a long history with animals, they-

"I want those two," she said as she tucked away a lock of brunette hair and stared at the blond and the red eyes. "So, how much would it cost?"

* * *

><p>A sigh escaped her mouth and she rolled her eyes. In all the excitement of finding the perfect one, she forgot that her, Mikan, the heiress of the Sakura group, the one looking for the perfect bodyguard, had a long way ahead. Red-Eyes was the perfect one for the job personality wise. And it would be a long time before he would be properly trained to do his job.<p>

The rebellious aura that he emitted and the loyalty he displayed to his friend who sat next to him on the carriage was amiable. But it was a double edge sword, with one end pointing towards her.

"So, what are you? Another whore?"

"Natsume!" the blond hissed.

"See now, Natsume-kun, that was not very nice of you to refuse to tell me your name. Thankfully, Ruka-kun is _much_ more agreeable than you are."

The boy scoffed. "You're all the same."

His stubborn personality was more amusing than irritating. She was going to have so much fun playing around with and torturing him.

"Say, Ruka, do you guys have any combat experience."

The blond hesitated. "Well, we-"

"Are you some sort of bloody mercenary recruiter? Because we don't have any combat experience whatsoever. So you should just let us go back to our native lands." His eyes narrowed.

"Hey, I paid a month's allowance for you two, who knew Jolly's prices would be so expensive. Anyways, your native lands huh? It must be nice to go there, how about after a few years I let you guys go visit wherever that is, if you're good, if it still exists. I mean you should be aware of the situation you are in," she extended a finger to lift Natsume's chin up, "Right? My pet?" Then, her laughter delicately rang in the carriage as the aforementioned boy slapped her hand away.

"You see, I guess if I don't educate you before we get to the estate, my father will rip you head off. The Sakuras have elite orchards and we're at the top of the political and social hierarchies, so be careful what you say to my father because, while I think you two are irreplaceable, his opinion might differ. And he can do whatever he wants since my mother's gone. But then again, he's dying too." A smile graced her lips, "Yep, 'dying' too."

While pains of sympathy stroke Ruka, at that moment, a clear thought ran through Natsume's mind: the girl's a freak.

"Hey, Jii-chan. Can we go straight to the orchards. We might as well introduce Ruka to his new job before we head on to business on the estate."

The old man gave a nod of acknowledgement and Natsume almost couldn't resist wiping the stupid smile off of his – and his granddaughter's – face.

The girl then took something out of her purse and Ruka flinched as the metal pierced his flesh. A second later, the morning's rays bounced off of the piercing that hanged from the blond's ear.

"That's the marking for a gardener, a newbie one. If you do well, you'll get promoted and everything. Koko'll have you clothes, I mean Jolly should totally go and get a better fashion sense. Rags? Seriously, not the best thing to be wearing when you're trying to sell people." She then briefly glanced out of the window.

"Out we go. And," she stared both of them in the eye, "For the last time, my name is Mikan Sakura. You should remember that at least."


End file.
